1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron beam apparatus using a field emission (FE) electron-emitting device and an image display apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Until now there has been an electron-emitting device in which a large number of electrons emitted from a cathode collide a gate electrode opposing the cathode, are scattered and then taken out as electrons.
As a device for emitting electrons in such a manner, there have been known a surface-conduction electron-emitting device and a stack electron-emitting device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-167693.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-167693 describes an electron-emitting device which is of a stack type and the insulating layer of which is concave inward (referred to as “recess portion” hereinafter).
In the disclosure of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-167693, the insulating layer forming the recess portion uses a PSG (SiO2 doped with phosphorus) material and the PSG layer is 10 nm in thickness. The tip position (height) of the cathode from the substrate coincides with the height position of the insulating layer having the cathode on its side wall.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-167693, the efficiency the electron emission characteristic is excellent, however, the temporal stability thereof has been required to be improved.
The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the above conventional art and has for its object to provide an electron beam apparatus which is simple in configuration, high in electron emission efficiency and stably operates and an image display apparatus provided therewith.